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Grand theft auto
Grand theft auto Grand Theft Auto (commonly abbreviated GTA) is a multi-award-winning video game series created in the United Kingdom by Dave Jones, then later by brothers Dan Houser and Sam Houser, and game designer Zachary Clarke. It is primarily developed by British developer Rockstar North (formerly DMA Design) and published by Rockstar Games. The name of the series is derived from grand theft auto, a term referring to motor vehicle theft. The series is set in fictional locales heavily modelled on American cities, while an expansion for the original was based in London. Gameplay focuses on an open world where the player can choose missions to progress an overall story, as well as engaging in side activities, all consisting of action-adventure, driving, occasional role-playing, stealth, and racing elements. The subject of the games is usually a comedic satire of American culture, but the series has gained controversy for its adult nature and violent themes. The series focuses around many different protagonists who attempt to rise through the ranks of the criminal underworld, although their motives for doing so vary in each game. The antagonists are commonly characters who have betrayed the protagonist or his organisation, or characters who have the most impact impeding the protagonist's progress. Video game developer DMA Design began the series in 1997, and it currently has ten stand-alone games and four expansion packs. The third chronological title, Grand Theft Auto III, was widely acclaimed, as it brought the series to a 3D setting and more immersive experience, and is considered a landmark title that has subsequently influenced many other open world action games and led to the label "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_clone Grand Theft Auto clone]" on similar games. Subsequent titles would follow and build upon the concept established in Grand Theft Auto III. Film veterans such as Michael Madsen, Ray Liotta, Burt Reynolds, Dennis Hopper, Danny Trejo, Gary Busey, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Penn, James Woods, Joe Pantoliano, Jenna Jameson, Frank Vincent, Robert Loggia, Kyle MacLachlan, Phil Collins and Peter Fonda have all voiced major characters, and the series is critically acclaimed and commercially successful, having sold more than 114 million units, as of September 2011[update].[1] The fourth era of Grand Theft Auto included lesser known actors, such as Michael Hollick, Jason Zumwalt and Scott Hill. Overview Each game in this series allows players to take on the role of a criminal or a wannabe in a big city, typically an individual who rises through the ranks of organized crime through the course of the game. The player is given various missions by kingpins and major idols in the city underworld which must be completed to progress through the storyline. Assassinations and other crimes feature regularly, but occasionally taxi driving, firefighting, street racing, bus driving, or learning to fly helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft are also involved. In later titles, notably those released after Grand Theft Auto 2, the player is given a more developed storyline in which he is forced to overcome an unfortunate event (e.g., being betrayed and left for dead), which serves as motivation for the character to advance up the criminal ladder and ultimately leads to the triumph of the character by the end of the storyline. The Grand Theft Auto series belongs to a genre of free-roaming video games called sandbox games, and grants a large amount of freedom to the player in deciding what to do and how to do it through multiple methods of transport and weapons. Most traditional action games are structured as a single track series of levels with linear gameplay, but in GTA the player can determine the missions that he wants to undertake, and his relationships with various characters are changed based on these choices. The cities of the games can also be roamed freely at any point in the game, and are examples of open world video game environments which offer accessible buildings with minor missions in addition to the main storyline. There are exceptions: missions follow a linear, overarching plot, and some city areas must be unlocked over the course of the game. Grand Theft Auto III and later subsequent games have more prevalent voice acting, and radio stations, which simulate driving to music with disc jockeys, radio personalities, commercials, talk radio, pop music, and American culture. The use of vehicles in an explorable urban environment provides a basic simulation of a working city, complete with pedestrians who generally obey traffic signals. Further details are used to flesh out an open-ended atmosphere that has been used in several other games, such as The Simpsons Hit & Run, which has less emphasis on crime or violence Setting The Grand Theft Auto series is set in a fictional version of the world, in a number of different time periods. The original Grand Theft Auto introduced three main locations: Liberty City, based upon New York City, Vice City, based upon Miami, and San Andreas, based upon the western cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas. Subsequent games in the series have re-imagined and expanded upon the original locales. Grand Theft Auto III is set in a different rendition of Liberty City only loosely based on New York City.[2] A revised Vice City is depicted in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. In Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the location of San Andreas takes the form of an entire state, instead of a single city. The state of San Andreas is based on the states of California and Nevada, and consists of three major cities: Los Santos (Los Angeles), San Fierro (San Francisco) and Las Venturas (Las Vegas). Surrounding towns and areas of desert, water, woodland and countryside lie between the three cities. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, originally released on the PlayStation Portable handheld console, are set in the previous depictions of their respective eponymous cities. Grand Theft Auto IV and its subsequent expansion packs The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony are set in a third revision of Liberty City, set in 2008. A version of New Jersey, known as Alderney, is depicted adjacent to the city. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is also set in this version of Liberty City, although the state of Alderney is not present.[citation needed] Other places in the same fictional universe as the Grand Theft Auto series also exist. Carcer City and Cottonmouth are two different cities featured in the Manhunt series. There is also the town of Bullworth from another Rockstar Game's release, Bully.[citation needed] Only the expansion packs for the original Grand Theft Auto, London 1969 and London 1961, set in London, have featured a location outside of the United States. GTA 1 Grand Theft Auto (abbreviated as GTA) is a 1997 action-adventure open world video game created by games developer DMA Design (now Rockstar North) and published by BMG Interactive. The game allows the player to take on the role of a criminal who can roam freely around a big city. Various missions are set for completion, such as bank robberies, assassinations, and other crimes. It is the first in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_(series) Grand Theft Auto series] that has thus far spanned ten standalone games and three expansion packs. The game was originally intended to be named "Race N Chase"[3] and was nearly cancelled due to production issues.[4] An original design document[5] dated 22 March 1995 was posted online by Mike Dailly.[6] GTA was succeeded by Grand Theft Auto 2 and both games were made available as a free download by Rockstar Games on their website in 2004.[7] The game was made available on Steam on 4 January 2008. Gameplay Grand Theft Auto is made up of a series of levels, each set in one of the three main cities. In each level, the player's ultimate objective is to reach a target number of points, which is typically achieved by performing tasks for the city's local crime syndicate. Each level has its own unique set of tasks. Successful completion of a mission rewards the player with points and opens the opportunity to attempt harder missions for higher rewards, while failure awards few points and may permanently seal off opportunities for more tasks. GTA 2 Grand Theft Auto 2 (abbreviated as GTA2) is a video game that was released worldwide on October 25, 1999, by developer DMA Design (now Rockstar North), initially for the Windows operating system and the PlayStation console. The game was later ported to the Dreamcast console and the Game Boy Color. It is the sequel to 1997 hit Grand Theft Auto. The PC and Dreamcast versions of GTA2 are both rated M by the ESRB. The language and violence were toned down for the PlayStation and Game Boy Color versions which received a T rating.[1] Rockstar now offers the PC version as registerware for free download at their website with free subscription to their mailing list.[2] GTA2 was preceded by the original Grand Theft Auto and ultimately succeeded by Grand Theft Auto III. The game was made available on Steam on January 4, 2008 Gameplay GTA2 retained the overhead viewpoint of GTA, as well as the car-stealing/telephone-answering formula of the original. The player has the ability to explore cities on foot or in various vehicles. The aim is to achieve a certain score. On achieving this goal the player then can proceed to the next level. Doing missions awards the player more points than any other method but are not essential for completion of the game. A new feature introduced in GTA2 was doing missions for separate gangs, of which there are two new gangs for each of the three levels of the game, and one faction which is present in all levels. Being employed by one gang can cause distrust from others (working for gang #1 will incur the wrath of gang #2, working for gang #2 will cause enmity with gang #3, etcetera). In the original GTA, only the local police pursued the player. In GTA2, SWAT teams (4 Copheads) are introduced in the Downtown District, while Special Agents (5 Copheads) and the army (6 Copheads) are introduced in the Residential and Industrial Districts. These additional types of law enforcement begin chasing the player as his or her wanted level increases. The wanted level is represented by images of a cop's head, and vary between the Windows and PlayStation versions. GTA2 introduced an improved saving technique, unlike GTA1, which saved only when finishing a city. If the player entered a church with $50,000, a voice announced "Hallelujah! Another soul saved!". This notified the player that the game had been saved. If the player did not have enough money, the voice would say "Damnation! No donation, no salvation!". These messages are not heard on the PlayStation version. Other improvements pertain to city activity. Passing vehicles and pedestrians are no longer cosmetic parts of the environment, but actually play a role in gameplay. Sometimes pedestrians would occasionally enter and ride in taxis or buses. The game is noted for the behavior of its non-player characters. Pedestrians, gang members and the police would occasionally engage in fights, and there are other carjackers (Green sweater) and muggers (Red sweater with white arms) in the city.[6] This game introduces 'side missions' such as being a taxi driver, bus driver, and a semi-truck driver along with retrieving 'hidden' packages (GTA2 Badges) or Wang Cars (play on 'wankers'), and a health meter. Being a taxidriver would earn roughly 1 dollar per second. When standing still, passengers could get out if they want to, and the earnings will stop. Wang Cars only appeared in the second district. They were well hidden and usually required the player to take a severe amount of highspeed jumps to reach the cars, some of them parked on top of buildings. When the car was entered, the player spawned at the Wang Cars garage, with the garagedoor of the collected car lighting up. Collecting all cars resulted in 8 bonus vehicles parked outside the garage. Among these were cars prepped with oilslicks, integrated machineguns and a firetruck, living up its name as its watercannon was replaced with a flamethrower. Some weapons in GTA2 feature a "Kill Frenzy" mission when picked up, where a player has a limited amount of time to kill a certain number of people with a particular weapon loaded. Bonuses are rewarded if the mission is successful.Also if a player finds a tank and gets in it a "Kill Frenzy" mission also starts, and finally in random parts of the city are parked special cars, and if the player gets on one he has to either kill people by running them over or kill them with any extra weapon that the car has. There is a bug involving the Kill Frenzy as it is possible to save when having it. When the game is then reloaded, the Kill Frenzy ends, but the almost unlimited ammunition remains until that same weapon is picked up or a more than usually allowed amount of ammunition is wasted. The PlayStation version of Grand Theft Auto 2 is toned down from the PC version, with lower quotas for the number of kills needed in rampage style missions, and containing no voice acting in the saving interface. The port also includes a feature where the player car will explode after the player kills a large number of gang members. One mission was also changed. Instead of the player tricking civilians into entering a bus to drive them to a meat processing plant to be cannibalized, the victims are Hare Krishna gang members. As is the case with the original Grand Theft Auto and GTA London: 1969, the player receives bonuses for running his car over certain people without stopping or braking. A string of Elvis impersonators are sometimes spotted walking the streets. Their deaths are awarded with a large money bonus, followed by the bold words "ELVIS HAS LEFT THE BUILDING". Its buggy and unoptimized multiplayer support, a feature not broadly known, was intended for low latency LAN games of 2 to 6 players. Multiplayer modes are: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Tag, Race. Though often unplayable because of lag, it is possible to connect over the internet. A third-party client created by GTAMP simplifies this process and helps find other players. There are trains in the PC version, which the players can ride on. GTA 3 Grand Theft Auto III is a 2001 open world action-adventure computer and video game developed by DMA Design (now Rockstar North) in the United Kingdom, and published by Rockstar Games. It is the first 3D title in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_(series) Grand Theft Auto series]. It was released in October 2001 for the PlayStation 2, May 2002 for Microsoft Windows, in November 2003 for the Xbox and in November 2010 for Mac OS X. It was made available on Steam on January 4, 2008[6] and on the Mac App Store on August 18, 2011. The game was released for iOS and Android mobile devices on December 15, 2011. The game is preceded by Grand Theft Auto 2 and succeeded by Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. GTA III is set in modern Liberty City, a fictional metropolitan city based on New York City. The game follows the story of a criminal named Claude[a] who was betrayed by his girlfriend in a bank heist and is required to work his way up the crime ladder of the city before confronting her. GTA III is composed of elements from driving games and third-person shooters. The game's concept and gameplay, coupled with the use of a 3D game engine for the first time in the series, contributed to Grand Theft Auto III's positive reception upon its release; it became 2001's top selling video game[7] and is cited as a landmark in video games for its far-reaching influence within the industry.[8] GTA III's success was a significant factor in the series' subsequent popularity; as of 2008, five GTA prequels set before events in GTA III have been released, particularly Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories which revisits GTA III's setting a few years prior. GTA III's violent and sexual content has also been the source of public concern and controversy. According to Metacritic, GTA III and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 both hold an average critic score of 97/100, making them the highest-rated PlayStation 2 games of all time Gameplay Grand Theft Auto III inherits and modifies much of the gameplay mechanics from its predecessors, Grand Theft Auto and Grand Theft Auto 2, combining elements of a third-person shooter and a driving game in a new 3D game engine. The idea of using a 3D game engine in such a genre was however not new: the first game to combine elements of action, shooting, and driving various vehicles in a sandbox-style 3D world was Hunter, released in 1991 for the Commodore Amiga and Atari ST home computers.[20][21] The first developed by DMA Design was Body Harvest (1998), for the Nintendo 64. Publicly debuted in 1995 at Nintendo's SpaceWorld video game trade show, Body Harvest was revolutionary for its time, but despite above average reviews,[22] the game sold poorly.[23] GTA III takes the gameplay elements of Body Harvest and combines them with the GTA series' open-ended game design to create a level of freedom and detail that was unprecedented in 2001.[24] On foot, the player's character has the additional ability to sprint (but is incapable of swimming), as well as use weapons and perform basic hand to hand combat; he is also capable of driving a variety of vehicles, (with the addition of watercraft and a fixed-wing aircraft).[25] Criminal offences, such as carjacking, murder and theft will result in increasing levels of resistance from the authorities. If the player's "wanted" level reaches certain levels, the police, FBI, and army will respond accordingly.[26] When the player character collapses from his injuries or is arrested, he will re-spawn at a local hospital or police station respectively, at the expense of losing all weapons and armor and an amount of money for medical expenses or bribes. While this is similar to previous Grand Theft Auto games, the player character is essentially offered unlimited "lives," as opposed to the limited number of lives in GTA1 and GTA2. This allows the player character to "die" as many times as she/he pleases, and render it impossible to indefinitely lose in the game. A major feature in GTA III's predecessors that allowed the player to obtain cash by committing petty crimes has been downplayed in GTA III, encompassing only car ramming, vehicle destruction and pedestrian killing. The amount of money in the player's possession is no longer a requirement to unlock new areas in GTA III. There are only two exceptions to this, which require the player to have a certain amount of money. Instead, the completion of missions and unfolding of the game's storyline are now responsible for this role. Additionally, the player is allowed to return to all unlocked areas of the city. However, as new areas open up, access to other, previously available areas becomes more dangerous or difficult, due to hostilities from enemy gangs. The interface of the game has been significantly overhauled. The player-centered compass is replaced by a separate mini-map that also displays a map of the city and key locations (safe houses and contact points) or targets. Armour and health levels are now indicated in numbers, and a 24-hour clock is added. Gang behavior is no longer dictated by "respect" meters used in GTA2; instead, the player character's progress through the story affects his view in the "eyes" of gang members. As the player completes missions for different gangs, rival gang members will come to recognize the character and subsequently shoot on sight. Whereas multiplayer modes from previous GTA titles allowed players to connect through a computer network and play the game with others, GTA III was the first computer game title to only ship with a single player game mode. As a result, third-party modifications were developed that re-extended the game with the absent network functionality through manipulation of the game's memory. One of these modifications became known as Multi Theft Auto and was developed alongside this title and future GTA successors GTA vice city Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is a 2002 open world action-adventure video game developed by Rockstar North (formerly DMA Design) in the United Kingdom and published by Rockstar Games. It is the second 3D game in the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise and sixth original title overall. It debuted in North America on October 1, 2002 for the PlayStation 2 and was later ported to the Xbox, and Microsoft Windows in 2003. It was made available on Steam on January 4, 2008, and on the Mac App Store on August 25, 2011.[2] Vice City was preceded by Grand Theft Auto III and followed by Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Vice City draws much of its inspiration from 1980s American culture. Set in 1986 in Vice City, a fictional city modeled after Miami, the story revolves around a psychotic Mafia hitman Tommy Vercetti, who was recently released from prison. After being involved in a drug deal gone wrong, Tommy seeks out those responsible while building a criminal empire and seizing power from other criminal organizations in the city. The game uses a tweaked version of the game engine used in Grand Theft Auto III and similarly presents a huge cityscape, fully populated with buildings, vehicles, and people. Like other games in the series, Vice City has elements from driving games and third-person shooters, and features "open-world" gameplay that gives the player more control over their playing experience. Upon its release, Vice City became the best-selling video game of 2002. In July 2006, Vice City was the best-selling PlayStation 2 game of all time. Vice City also appeared on Japanese magazine Famitsu's readers' list of the favorite 100 videogames of 2006, the only fully Western title on the list.[3] Following this success, Vice City saw releases in Europe, Australia and Japan, as well as a release for the PC. Rockstar Vienna also packaged the game with its predecessor, Grand Theft Auto III, and sold it as Grand Theft Auto: Double Pack for the Xbox. Vice City's setting is also revisited in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, which serves as a prequel to events in Vice City. Gameplay The player takes on the role of Tommy Vercetti, a member of the Liberty City mafia released from prison in 1986 after serving only 15 years for killing eleven men.[4] Tommy's old boss, Sonny Forelli, fears that Tommy's presence in Liberty City will heighten tensions and bring unwanted attention to his organization's criminal activities.[5] To prevent this, Sonny ostensibly promotes Tommy and sends him to Vice City under the guardianship of Mafia lawyer Ken Rosenberg to act as their buyer for a series of cocaine deals.[6] During Tommy's first deal, an ambush by an unknown party results in the death of Tommy's bodyguards and the cocaine dealer, Vic Vance (the main character of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories). Tommy narrowly escapes with his life and loses both Forelli's money and the cocaine.[7] When Tommy informs Sonny of the ambush Sonny loses his temper and threatens Tommy with the consequences of attempting to cheat the Mafia. Tommy promises to retrieve the money and the cocaine and kill whoever was responsible for the ambush.[8] Towards this end, Tommy meets up again with Ken Rosenberg, who leads Tommy to mid-level drug dealer Juan Garcia Cortez. Cortez expresses regret about Tommy's bad deal and promises that his own lines of inquiry are being made. Tommy also meets Cortez's daughter Mercedes, who becomes Tommy's confidant shortly thereafter. While Tommy waits for the outcome of Cortez's investigation he meets British record producer Kent Paul, real estate mogul Avery Carrington and local free-lance criminal Lance Vance.,[9] the brother and business partner of the dealer who was killed in the ambush, who is also seeking revenge.[10] As time passes, Tommy befriends Cortez and begins to do regular work for him as an errand boy and hitman. On one such job Tommy provides protection for drug lord Ricardo Diaz during a deal which is ambushed by a gang of Haitians. Tommy saves Diaz's life, leading Diaz to begin hiring Tommy for his own agenda. Tommy takes this work because it pays well, in spite of his distaste for Diaz's character. Tommy learns from Cortez that Cortez's own lieutenant, Gonzalez, was partially responsible for the ambush on Tommy's cocaine deal, and Cortez asks Tommy to kill Gonzalez as a favor. Afterwards Cortez lays suspicion for the ambush on Diaz. Tommy initially continues the status quo to prepare for his attack, but his hand is forced when Lance attempts to take revenge by himself and fails, forcing Tommy to rush across the city and rescue him. With the die cast, the two move quickly to raid Diaz's mansion and execute Diaz. With Diaz dead, and Colonel Cortez fleeing the country to escape arrest, the established drug empires in Vice City quickly crumble and Tommy and Lance personally take over, becoming Vice City's cocaine kingpins. Tommy becomes the head of his own organization, the Vercetti crime family, and the more powerful and rich Tommy becomes, the more Lance begins to exhibit paranoid and sociopathic behaviors, to the point that he begins to abuse his own bodyguards and constantly calls Tommy in states of hysteria. Tommy makes alliance with Umberto Robina's Cubans against Auntie Poulet's Haitians, even though he is at the same time hypnotized by Poulet's voodoo into helping the Haitians. However after Tommy and Poulet part ways Tommy and the Cubans sneak explosives into the Haitian drug factory disguised in Haitian gang cars and blow it up, effectively ending the conflict. As his drug business expands, Tommy buys assets in nearly bankrupt companies such as a car lot, a cab depot, a strip club, a night club, a boathouse, a print shop for counterfeit money, an ice-cream company, and an adult film company, all of which he turns back into competitive businesses. He also becomes a personal bodyguard to a rock band, an honorary member of a biker gang, and pulls off a major bank heist. Eventually the Forelli family discovers that Tommy has taken over much of the action in Vice City without sending a cut to Sonny as required. Sonny sends collectors to force money out of Tommy's assets, but Tommy disposes of them. An angered Sonny Forelli arrives in Vice City with a small army of mafiosi, intent on taking their tribute by force. When Sonny and his henchmen arrive at the Vercetti Estate, Tommy attempts to give them their tribute in counterfeit money. However, Lance, resenting Tommy's substantial share of their profits, makes a back-room deal with the Forelli's to topple the Vercetti family, and informs Sonny that the tribute money is counterfeit. In the game's climax, Tommy stands alone as Lance, Sonny, and Sonny's henchmen raid Tommy's Mansion. Tommy first chases, ridicules, and finally kills Lance then storms downstairs where he faces off with Sonny. During the gunfight, Sonny admits he is the one who set Tommy up fifteen years before, sending him to kill the eleven men who were expecting him. Tommy eventually kills Sonny in the main hall of his estate. With his enemies vanquished, Tommy establishes himself as the undisputed crime kingpin of Vice City. GTA san andreas Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is a 2004 open world action-adventure video game developed by games developer Rockstar North in the United Kingdom and published by Rockstar Games. It is the third 3D game in the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise, the fifth original console release and eighth game overall. Originally released for the PlayStation 2 in October 2004,[2] the game has since been released for the Xbox and Microsoft Windows (PC) in June 2005, and has received wide acclaim and high sales figures on all three platforms. It is the best-selling game of all time on PlayStation 2. It was made available on Steam on January 4, 2008,[11] and on Intel-based Macs running a minimum of Mac OS X 10.6.6 in September 2011. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was succeeded by Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and was preceded by Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. The game is set in the fictional state of San Andreas, which contains three metropolitan cities: Los Santos, based on Los Angeles, San Fierro, based on San Francisco and Las Venturas, based on Las Vegas. Set in late 1992,[12] San Andreas revolves around the gang member Carl "CJ" Johnson returning home from Liberty City to Los Santos, San Andreas, after learning of his mother's murder. CJ finds his old friends and family in disarray. Over the course of the game, CJ gradually unravels the plot behind his mother's murder. The high-level plot strongly resembles the LAPD Rampart Scandal. Gameplay San Andreas is structured similarly to the previous two games in the series. The core gameplay consists of elements of a third-person shooter and a driving game, affording the player a large, open world environment in which to move around. On foot, the player's character is capable of walking, eating, running, sprinting, swimming, climbing (the first GTA game in which swimming and climbing is possible) and jumping as well as using weapons and various forms of hand to hand combat. Players can drive a variety of vehicles, including automobiles, buses, semis, boats, fixed wing aircraft, helicopters, trains, tanks, motorcycles and bikes. Players may also import vehicles rather than steal them. The open, non-linear environment allows players to explore and choose how they wish to play the game. Although storyline missions are necessary to progress through the game and unlock certain cities and content, they are not required as players can complete them at their own leisure. When not taking on a storyline mission, players can free-roam and look around the cities, eat from the restaurant, or cause havoc by attacking people and causing destruction. Creating havoc can attract unwanted and potentially fatal attention from the authorities. The more chaos caused, the stronger the response: police will handle "minor" infractions (attacking people, pointing guns at people, stealing cars, killing a few people, etc.), whereas SWAT teams, the FBI, and the military respond to higher wanted levels. The player can partake in a variety of optional side missions that can boost their character's attributes or provide another source of income. The traditional side missions of the past games are included, such as dropping off taxi cab passengers, putting out fires, driving injured people to the hospital and fighting crime as a vigilante. New additions include burglary missions, pimping missions, truck and train driving missions requiring players to make deliveries on time, and driving/flying/boating/biking schools, which help players learn skills and techniques to use in their corresponding vehicles. Not all locations are open to the player at the start of the game. Some locales, such as pay 'n spray, gyms, and shops, become available only after completing certain missions. Likewise, for the first portion of the game, only Los Santos and its immediate suburbs are available for exploration; unlocking the other cities and rural areas again requires the completion of certain missions. Unlike GTA III and Vice City, which needed loading screens when traveling between different districts of the city, San Andreas has no load times when the player is in transit. The only loading screens in the game are for cut-scenes and interiors. Other differences between San Andreas and its predecessors include the switch from single-player to multiplayer Rampage missions (albeit not in the PC version), and the replacement of the 'hidden packages' with spray paint tags, hidden camera shots, horseshoes, and oysters to discover. The camera, fighting, and targeting controls were reworked to incorporate concepts from another Rockstar game, Manhunt, including various stealth elements,[13] as well as improved target crosshairs and a target health indicator which changes colors from green to red to black depending on the target's health. The PC version of the game implements mouse chording; the player has to hold the right mouse button to activate the crosshairs, and then click or hold at the left mouse button to shoot or use an item, such as a camera. In addition, players can swim and climb walls for the first time in the series.[14] The ability to swim has a great effect on the player as well, since water is no longer an impassable barrier that kills the player (although it is possible to drown). For greater firepower, players can also wield dual firearms or perform a drive-by shooting with multiple gang members. Due to the size of San Andreas, a waypoint reticule on the HUD map can be set, aiding the player in reaching a destination. GTA vice city stories Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories is a 2006 action-adventure open world video game developed by Rockstar Leeds in association with Rockstar North. It was published by Rockstar Games for the PlayStation Portable in late 2006 and later for the PlayStation 2 in March 2007. The game is the eighth installment in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_(series) Grand Theft Auto series] and the sixth and last GTA III era game. It is a prequel to Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and successor to the previous PSP release, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories. Vice City is a representation of Miami, Florida. Vice City Stories is the last GTA game for the PlayStation 2 console and the second game for the PlayStation Portable. Gameplay Vice City Stories is structured similarly to other releases from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_(series) Grand Theft Auto series]. The core gameplay consists of elements of a third-person shooter and a driving game, affording the player a large, open environment in which to move around. On foot, the player's character is capable of walking, running, swimming (albeit for a limited amount of time) and jumping, as well as utilizing weapons and basic hand-to-hand combat. Players can drive a variety of vehicles, including automobiles, boats, planes, bicycles, helicopters, jetskis, and motorcycles. The open, non-linear environment allows players to explore and choose how they wish to play the game. Although storyline missions are necessary to progress through the game and unlock certain areas and content, they are not required, as players can complete them at their own leisure. When not taking on a storyline mission, players can free-roam. The player can also partake in a variety of optional side missions. The traditional side missions of the past games are included, but have been moderately upgraded and enhanced compared to previous titles. A new addition to the game is "Beach Patrol", in which Victor (the player's character) must deal with bikers on the beach by beach buggy (by ramming or shooting to knock them off their bikes) or throwing life preservers to drowning swimmers by boat or by taking a paramedic around to injured people on the beach. One of the key gameplay elements in Vice City Stories is "empire building." New to the GTA series, it borrows a few ideas from Vice City's "properties" and San Andreas' "gang wars" systems. In order to make money, the player must open and operate various businesses on property taken over from enemy gangs – these can range from protection rackets to brothels or smuggling compounds; the type and scale of a business is entirely dependant on the player's wants. For Vice City Stories, the combat system was overhauled to feature more depth than ever before. The targeting mechanism has been tweaked to "intelligently target"; enemies posing a threat or attacking the player will be targeted over pedestrians. The biggest changes concern the hand-to-hand combat system, as players can now perform grappling moves and throws, and stand on top of enemies lying on the ground. Players are able to bribe policemen or hospital staff when "Wasted" (killed) or "Busted" (arrested) in order to lower their wanted level, and keep weapons that ordinarily would have been lost. The standard hidden package system returns in the form of 99 red balloons scattered around the city.[1] This is a reference to Nena's 1984 hit "99 Luftballons", which was featured in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Improvements to the graphics since the release of Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories include new animations, faster load times, a longer draw distance, reductions in clumping of pedestrians and vehicles, more complex explosions, and increases in the density of objects, vehicles, and NPCs. GTA liberty city stories Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (commonly abbreviated as GTA: LCS, GTA: Liberty City Stories or Liberty City Stories) is a 2005 action-adventure open world video game developed by Rockstar North and Rockstar Leeds for the PlayStation Portable.[2] It is the ninth game in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_(series) Grand Theft Auto series]. The game is the prequel to Grand Theft Auto III, was preceded by Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and was succeeded by Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories. It was published and distributed by Capcom for the Japanese release. A port for the PlayStation 2 was released on June 6, 2006 in North America.[3][4] At the time of release, the recommended retail price of the PS2 port was around half the price of the PSP version.[5] The PS2 port does not feature the custom soundtrack ripping capability, in comparison to its PSP counterpart. It was released on October 1, 2009 as a downloadable game on the revised PSP model PSP Go. Gameplay Liberty City's layout is largely similar to Grand Theft Auto III, while it also incorporates elements found in GTA III's successors, such as more indoor environments, clothing changes, and motorcycles. In addition, in keeping with recent GTA games, the player has more flexibility in terms of moving the camera around for viewing surroundings (GTA III is noticeably limited in that respect). Two innovations from the previous game, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas that are omitted from this game are the ability to climb and the ability to swim - contact with deep bodies of water is instantly fatal in this game. The overall sandbox play area, as it is based upon the original Liberty City layout, is considerably smaller than that of San Andreas. In addition, motorcycles are permitted in the city during this game, as earlier-released games (set later in the GTA universe chronology) do not allow this. The official Liberty City Stories website reveals that motorbikes were banned by the turn of the 21st century, due to a public ordinance supported by the Maibatsu Corporation (which marketed the over-sized Maibatsu Monstrosity in GTA III) in order to promote the use of automobiles in the city. Though airplanes and helicopters can be found in Vice City, usable airplanes and helicopters cannot be found in Liberty City Stories. GTA 4 Grand Theft Auto IV is a 2008 open world action-adventure video game published by Rockstar Games, and developed by UK game developer Rockstar North. It has been released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 video game consoles, and for the Windows operating system. The game involves a separate timeline and world than its predecessors, starting the fourth "era" in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_(series) Grand Theft Auto series], and is set in fictional Liberty City, based heavily on modern day New York City.[a] The game follows Niko Bellic, a veteran of an unnamed war in Eastern Europe, who comes to the United States in search of the American Dream, but quickly becomes entangled in a world of gangs, crime, and corruption. Like other games in the series, GTA IV is composed of elements from driving games and third-person shooters, and features open world gameplay, in which players can interact with the game world at their leisure. Grand Theft Auto IV also features several online multiplayer modes. Two expansion packs have been developed for the game, originally released as downloadable content for the Xbox 360 version throughout 2009. Both The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony feature new plots that are interconnected with the main GTA IV storyline, and follow new protagonists. The two episodes have been released together for all platforms as a stand-alone game called Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City. A bundle that contained both the original GTA IV game and the Episodes was also released, titled Grand Theft Auto IV: The Complete Edition. The 2009 handheld game Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars revisited the Liberty City of GTA IV. As the first game of the critically acclaimed series to appear on seventh generation consoles, Grand Theft Auto IV was widely anticipated. A major commercial and critical success, it broke industry records with sales of around 3.6 million units on its first day of release and grossing more than $500 million in revenue in the first week, selling an estimated 6 million units worldwide.[10] As of September 2011[update], the game had shipped over 22 million copies.[11] Grand Theft Auto IV won numerous awards from both gaming and mainstream press, including several recognitions as Game of the Year, and is in the highest ranks on several professional game critic review-aggregating websites. In late 2011, Rockstar Games announced that Grand Theft Auto V was in full development.[12] A trailer of Grand Theft Auto V was later released. Gameplay Quite like its predecessors, the core gameplay of GTA IV consists of giving the player a large, open world environment in which to move around freely. On foot, the player character can walk, run, jump, climb over obstacles and swim, as well as use weapons and perform basic hand-to-hand combat. Players can steal and drive a variety of vehicles, including automobiles, boats, helicopters, and motorcycles. Grand Theft Auto IV takes advantage of Natural Motion's Euphoria engine, which combines artificial intelligence, bio-mechanics and physics to make open, non-linear environments that allow players to explore and choose how they wish to play the game. Although storyline missions are necessary to progress through the game and unlock certain content and parts of the city, they are not required, as players can complete them at their own leisure. When not attempting a storyline mission, players can free-roam, giving them the ability to do activities. Side missions such as locating and destroying criminals in the police car database or participating in street races can keep the player occupied for hours. It is possible to have many active missions running at one time, as some missions run over the course of several days and require the player to wait for further instructions or events. The player can also attempt a variety of optional side missions. Grand Theft Auto IV also contains morality choices at many points throughout the game, which alter the storyline appropriately depending on the player's choice. Which of the game's two different endings occurs is determined by one of these choices. GTA the lost and the damned Grand Theft Auto: The Lost and Damned, originally known as Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned, is the first of two episodic expansion packs developed for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC versions of Grand Theft Auto IV, developed by Rockstar North in the United Kingdom. It was first released for the Xbox 360 on 17 February 2009[3] and on PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Windows on 13 April 2010.[2] It is the third expansion pack game in the Grand Theft Auto series (the first since Grand Theft Auto: London, 1961, released in 1999), and the twelfth release overall. The Lost and Damned features a new protagonist, Johnny Klebitz, who is a member of Liberty City's biker gang The Lost, a gang which is featured in missions throughout the course of Grand Theft Auto IV. Dan Houser, vice president of creative development at Rockstar Games, claims the episode will show "a different side of Liberty City".[4] Jeronimo Barrera, Vice President of Product Development for Rockstar Games, has said that the episodes are experiments because they are not sure that there are enough users with access to online content on the Xbox 360.[5] Take-Two Interactive's Chief Financial Officer, Lainie Goldstein revealed that Microsoft was paying a total of $50 million for the first two episodes.[6] A combined standalone disc-based package titled Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City, which does not require the original Grand Theft Auto IV game to be played, was released and contains both The Lost and Damned and Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony. Gameplay Perhaps the biggest new feature in The Lost and Damned is the availability of mid-mission checkpoints. The player is thus spared repeated trips to a given location in order to trigger a failed mission again — an often criticized aspect of the Grand Theft Auto series. Checkpoints are only available by retrying the mission after it has been previously failed — going to the mission start point begins the mission from scratch. The Lost and Damned otherwise features similar gameplay to Grand Theft Auto IV. Additions to the game include new weapons and vehicles, such as Johnny's custom-made motorcycle. However, his way of handling vehicles is less proficient than the way he handles any motorcycle. The player is able to telephone various members of the Lost to provide assistance. Terry, for instance, will drive to a location near to Johnny and sell him weapons and armor, while Clay can deliver a bike of the player's choice to him directly. Another addition to The Lost and Damned is gang wars. Once the player has completed a certain amount of them, weapons spawn in either the clubhouse and/or safehouse depending on how far the player has progressed in the story, and every subsequent 10 gang wars up to 50, a new weapon will spawn. During some missions and gang wars, Johnny is accompanied by a team of bikers. As each biker takes part in more missions, they will gain fighting experience. If, at any time, a biker is killed in a mission or gang war, they will be replaced by another in the next. In an interview with IGN, the president of Rockstar North stated that The Lost and Damned would have a third of the number of missions as Grand Theft Auto IV, placing its length at approximately 10–15 hours, depending on how focused the player is on the storyline.[8] The multi-player modes are: *'Witness Protection' - One team is The Lost biker gang and they must try to eliminate a bus carrying witnesses while the other team is NOOSE who try to protect the bus as it delivers the witnesses to police stations around Liberty City. *'Races' - Racing on bikes with racers carrying bats and smashing each other, similar to the video game Road Rash. *'Lone Wolf Biker' - Free for all style mode where one player is the Lone Wolf and all other players must chase and kill that player to become the Lone Wolf. At the end of the game, whoever was the Lone Wolf for the longest time, wins. *'Own the City' - Try to gain control of the city section by section, based on San Andreas' gang wars. *'Club Business' - Like the original Mafia mode in GTA IV, but with a total of 8 players riding together as one gang. The player receives calls from Angus who tells you to carry out certain tasks for The Lost. *'Chopper vs. Chopper' - Helicopter vs bike. Bike rider tries to get through checkpoints while the helicopter tries to stop the biker. GTA the ballad of gay tony Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony is the second of the two episodic expansion packs available to the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC versions of Grand Theft Auto IV, developed by Rockstar North and released for the Xbox 360 on 29 October 2009.[2] It was then released for the PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Windows on 13 April 2010. It is the fourth expansion pack in the Grand Theft Auto series, the 14th release on the series and is currently the final game of the Grand Theft Auto IV era. The Ballad of Gay Tony follows the exploits of protagonist, Luis Fernando Lopez, a member of the Dominican drug dealers and the personal bodyguard of Anthony "Gay Tony" Prince. Prince is the owner of the two largest nightclubs in Liberty City and is a high-status socialite. Rockstar Games said in their press release that this episode "injects Liberty City with an overdose of guns, glitz, and crime" and that "players will struggle with the competing loyalties of family and friends, and with the uncertainty about who is real and who is fake in a world in which everyone has a price."[4] A combined standalone disc-based package titled Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City, which does not require the original Grand Theft Auto IV game to be played, was released alongside the second expansion and contains both The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony. Gameplay 'The Ballad of Gay Tony'' includes the ability to replay previously passed missions with scoring, similar to the Hitman and Manhunt series. This feature was previously introduced to the series in Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars. Additions to the game's inventory include new weapons such as the FN P90, the M249 SAW light machine gun, the Atchisson Assault Shotgun, the .44 Auto Mag pistol, and the sniper rifle DSR-1. It also includes the return of satchel charges. Additional vehicles include high-end sports cars, sedans, a new aircraft, a small attack helicopter called the "Buzzard", a heavy-lift helicopter called the "Skylift", and a shuttle helicopter named the "Swift". In addition, the parachute which can also be found in San Andreas returns, allowing players to participate in BASE jumping and skydiving challenges. When flying a helicopter the map now functions as an altimeter (similar to a feature in San Andreas).'' The game also introduces a new driving range activity, as well as the ability to visit Tony's two nightclubs; where they can participate in drinking and dancing-based minigames. They can also manage the club's security. If players wish to do so, they are also able to enter an underground fighting tournament; where they can either spectate or compete in fights. In multiplayer, free mode, deathmatch, team deathmatch, race and GTA Race modes were updated, and a "BASE jumping" (multiplayer competition) mode was introduced, as a variation of free mode. GTA chinatown wars Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (also known as 'GTA: Chinatown Wars') is a video game for Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable,[2] and iOS,[3][4] developed by Rockstar Leeds in conjunction with Rockstar North. It is the ninth game in the Grand Theft Auto series, and the very first for Nintendo DS and iOS. According to Metacritic, 'GTA: Chinatown Wars' is currently the highest rated game on the Nintendo DS and the 2nd highest rated game on the PlayStation Portable. Gameplay Chinatown Wars has a different presentation from previous games in the series. Instead of a ground-level view behind the protagonist or a top-down perspective, Chinatown Wars uses a fully rotatable camera angled down at the action.[13] Chinatown Wars also uses cel-shaded polygons with black outlines to produce a comic book-like aesthetic — a first for the series. The title takes place in the Grand Theft Auto IV rendition of Liberty City, with the exception of Alderney. Unlike Grand Theft Auto IV, the player can disable as many cop cars as possible to escape the police instead of leaving a "wanted zone". The more stars the player has, the more cops they have to take out for each level. For example, for a six star level, they have to take out six cop cars to get down to a five star wanted level, and so on.[14] There is also a drug dealing sub plot which allows players to peddle six types of drugs around the city. Players can make a profit by recognizing market conditions and demands based on geography and plying their wares accordingly. CCTV cameras work as this game's secret packages, destroyed by throwing a Molotov cocktail bottle. This also decreases the chances of being caught while making a drug deal .[15] Chinatown Wars applies many Grand Theft Auto IV features such as the new next gen HUD. Ammu-nation returns in the form of an in-game website where the player can order various weapons through their PDA to be delivered to their safehouse. Official Nintendo Magazine described the game as "one of the largest, most complex DS games ever made", with over 900,000 lines of code. GTA 5 Grand Theft Auto V (commonly shortened to GTA V) is an upcoming open world action-adventure video game being developed by games developer Rockstar North in the United Kingdom and published by Rockstar Games. The game will be the first major title in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_(series) Grand Theft Auto series] since Grand Theft Auto IV (2008), which started the fourth "era" in the series.[a] The fifteenth game in the series overall, GTA V is to be set in fictional Los Santos in the state of San Andreas and its surrounding areas, based on modern-day Los Angeles and Southern California.[2] A rendition of Los Santos was previously featured as one of three cities in 2004's Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, from the series's third era.[3] A widely anticipated game, Grand Theft Auto V was officially announced on 25 October 2011.[4][5][6] The debut trailer for the game was unveiled on 2 November 2011. Development In September 2009 during an earnings call, Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick answered a listener's question about the next Grand Theft Auto. He replied, "We're not going to announce it, we're not going to announce when we are going to announce it, and we are not going to announce a strategy about announcing it or about when we are going to announce it either, or about the announcement strategy surrounding the announcement of the strategy."[8] In a November 2009 interview with The Times, Grand Theft Auto producer Dan Houser discussed his work, including the future of the series. Houser stated that he planned to co-write a script that reached about one thousand pages in length. In the same interview, Houser explained the company's basic workflow of creating new games in the series, which involves coming up with the city first, and then the lead character later.[1][9][10] In July 2010, Rockstar North posted seven job ads related to a new title. The firm looked to fill positions including Environment Artists, Physics Programmers and Character Animators. The job ad for the latter asking for those with "professional experience developing a third person action game". It was unknown if Rockstar was hiring for GTA V, or the firm was bulking up its Agent team.